To listen to this episode here on the website, click the triangle to the far left of the play bar. To download and save for playing on your preferred device, click this link; then click the down facing arrow on the far right of the play bar.

Welcome to the Courageous Entrepreneur Show. The show shares information and inspiration to help you break free from self-doubt, limiting beliefs, and disempowering patterns and break through to create the thriving, successful business you dream of and deserve.

The show features interviews with entrepreneurs who share their stories of overcoming amazing challenges to achieve success on their terms and experts who share practical information to help you move forward with courage, confidence, and clarity.

Show Notes

Those of us who fall into one of the demographic cohorts referred to as Baby Boomer, Generation Jones, or Generation X were raised to believe that the path to security, financial stability, and success was to go the traditional route of college, major in a degree that was useful, and then get a job, put your nose to the grind stone and maybe grab a corner office some day or at least a nice middle management role.

But that path ISN’T the sure route to stability and security that it once was and degree areas that were believed to be recession proof have proven themselves not to be so.

Jason Alba founded JibberJobber.com as a result of his own 2006 job search. It’s a tool to help job seekers manage the search for employment; but it’s also a great tool for solo professionals to use to manage their contacts and connections.

Jason is the best selling author of I’m on Linkedin Now What which is in its 4th edition and I consider it a classic. He’s also the author of 51 Alternatives to a Real Job. His undergrad degree is in Computer Information Systems and he has an MBA in IT.

Listen in as Jason and I discuss:

How he went from applicant to entrepreneur and what his business has in common with many you’ll see on the hit show Shark Tank

The mental health challenge job applicants can all too easily share with entrepreneurs

The challenges Jason had in coming up with a price for Jibber Jobber and the key thing to remember about pricing and business in general

Why pricing your service is the hardest thing for independent professionals to do and why undercharging is so prevalent and why it has to stop

What your offering should have in common with toothpaste and toilet paper

And what he’d do differently if he was starting all over

As always watch all the way to the end and I’ll share your reflection exercise and action step for this episode.

Guest Contact Information and Resources

Get Support on Your Journey to Grow Your Business

Do you wrestle with trying to stay focused while juggling the projects and responsibilities of being a solo professional? Do you continuously second-guess yourself or get frustrated when you don’t move forward? You were a success in your corporate life as manager or higher so why can’t you achieve the level of success you want in your business?

If you’re really ready for a break through and know you need more accountability and support to move forward to achieve your goals, then you may be a good fit for the Action Takers Group. Check it out here and register to be updated when monthly enrollment opens again.

To listen to this episode here on the website, click the triangle to the far left of the play bar. To download and save for playing on your preferred device, click this link; then click the down facing arrow on the far right of the play bar.

Welcome to the Courageous Entrepreneur Show. This is the show that shares information and inspiration to help you break free from self-doubt, limiting beliefs, and disempowering patterns and break through to create the thriving, successful business you dream of and deserve.

The show features interviews with entrepreneurs who’ve overcome amazing challenges to create success on their terms and experts who share insight and practical information that can help you get past your blocks and move forward with courage, confidence, and clarity.

The show is available in both video and audio format on a variety of platforms including iTunes, I Heart Radio, in the Google Play store, on You Tube and on my website.

If you like what you hear I hope you’ll share the show with others and I hope you’ll decide to join my community. You can become a fan of the show at Winnie Anderson.com/fans. When you do you’ll get episodes delivered right to your inbox along with information, tips, and resources to help you consistently move forward with courage, confidence, and clarity so you position and pre-sell yourself as the unique solution provider you are, and ultimately to profit from your expertise.

Show Notes

If you ever get caught up in the “I can’t” syndrome or “I don’t know how” or “I don’t know enough” or “I’m not good enough” mantras that can run through our heads then you want to make sure you listen to today’s episode because today’s guest shows the only thing stopping us from creating a wildly profitable life-style based business is that lump of grey matter inside our heads.

Jessica Yarbrough is a business coach for high – achieving women who want to break out of corporate life and quickly build a six-figure business. She’s a former corporate executive who followed her heart and ended up having to move back in with her parents as she rebuilt her life and career.

Listen in as Jessica shares:

How she went from a passion-centered profession to unemployed, living with her parents and collecting food stamps to feed her baby daughter. And how she began to rise up to create the thriving coaching practice she has today and do it in just 18 months.

How she dealt with the voice inside her that told her to go get a job as well as the voice of her parents telling her to get one.

The biggest blocks and mistakes that women have and make that hold us back from achieving what we really want.

And some great tips to begin to move forward to create the life and business of your dreams.

Be sure to listen all the way to the end where I’ll share your reflection exercise and action step for this episode.

Related Episodes

Sometimes one episode mentions one or more other episodes; or I may feel that one or more past episodes fit together. When that happens I list them so you can easily find them.

Guest Contact Information

Join the Group!

Do you wrestle with trying to stay focused while juggling the projects and responsibilities of being a solo professional? Do you know you need more accountability and support to move forward to achieve your goals? Then you may be a good fit for the Action Takers Group. Check it out here and register to be updated when monthly enrollment opens again.

She was in college at the time and was what I’d call a “seeker.” Someone who had no idea what they wanted, where they were going, or even who they were.

In other words, she was a typical college student.

She was also looking to escape a mother who had become suffocating.

Although Dorit’s mother loved her and was a talented musician with her own career as a concert pianist, she was “fearful of everything.” That’s naturally suffocating; and Dorit was anxious to get as far away from her and that feeling of suffocation as possible.

Relocating to Israel was certainly a way to escape.

One of the issues that resonated with me and that left me thinking long after the interview was this issue of running away.

I know there are people out there who would tell Dorit that she should have stood up to her mother and said “enough!” Or that she should have just ignored the woman and her fears.

Just like there are people who think I should have stood up to my mother when she began to belittle and verbally abuse me in adult hood.

But WE’RE in the moment. It’s up to us to make the best decision we can IN that moment.

And sometimes, running away is actually the best thing to do.

True it might be avoiding the problem but I think of it as giving ourselves time for self-protection and to allow us time to collect our thoughts so we can address the problem in a healthy way.

Of course we think we’re running away FROM someone or something…something outside of ourselves, and running TOWARDS something else — a person…a place….a thing….even just running towards the unknown when the KNOWN is not what we want.

We believe that the answer is outside of us when in reality it’s INSIDE us.

Dorit had to work through different issues when she was in Israel. Life wasn’t perfect.

It’s never perfect anywhere (at least not until we grow to the point we’re able to see the perfect imperfection in it all).

She had to reflect, and grow, and figure things out for herself. And she needed to do all that without her mother’s interference.

If you missed this episode you can access the full post with show notes here or you can listen or download the recording here.

Reflect on what you may be running from in your life.

What truth are you not facing? Who and what would you and could you become if you faced it and used it as an opportunity to truly grow.

Are you still haunted by a mistake you made? By some perceived failure?

Are you running away from some situation that’s left you guilt ridden?

The answer to our greatest problem is inside ourselves.

Accessing that answer takes reflection…prayer….connecting with God and deepening our faith and trust in Him.

Looking outside of ourselves for answers — from gurus or pundits or so-called experts — but what really needs to happen is to become more in tune with God’s message for us.

I heard pastor Joel Osteen say that we don’t hear God’s message because we’re listening for it with our ears and He’s speaking to us in our hearts.

We also struggle to access the wisdom within because we feel so inadequate…as if we’re not good enough…to know the answer. Others must be smarter than we are.

So instead of running away from a problem, what if you ran towards God and asked for help….for strength….for clarity…for wisdom?

The answer your looking for and the courage you need is inside you waiting to be accessed through a connection with the Holy Spirit.

To listen to this episode click the forward arrow to the far left on the play bar. To download it to your device and listen later, click this link. Look to the far right of the play bar and click the down arrow. Navigate to where you’d like to store the media and save it to your device. You can also watch this episode on You Tube.

Welcome to the Courageous Entrepreneur Show

This is the show that shares information and inspiration to help you break free from self-doubt, limiting beliefs, and disempowering patterns and break through to create the thriving, successful business you dream of and deserve.

I interview entrepreneurs who’ve overcome amazing challenges to create success on their terms and experts who share insight and practical information that can help you get past your blocks and move forward with courage, confidence, and clarity.

The show is available in both video and audio format on a variety of platforms including Apple Podcasts – formerly iTunes – on You Tube, I Heart Radio, and in the Google Play store.

If you like what you hear I hope you’ll share the show with others in your networks and I hope you’ll decide to join my community. You can become a fan of the show on my site at Winnie Anderson.com/fans when you do you’ll get episodes delivered right to your inbox. You’ll also receive information, tips, and resources to help you come out of hiding, position and pre-sell yourself as the unique solution provider you are, and profit from your expertise.

Show Notes

When I was in junior high and high school I dreamed of moving to Colorado. I was a huge John Denver fan and listening to that music and learning about him I was drawn to Colorado for its beauty. I also loved the idea of escaping from my mother who abused me emotionally and psychologically.

I use to imagine how fabulous it would be to start over in a place where – to play on that line from the TV show Cheers’ theme song — nobody knows your name.

So when I met today’s guest who didn’t just escape the way I dreamed of but she went to another country, I knew I had to learn more about her and have her on the show.

Dorit Sasson is an award-winning author, book coach, and motivational speaker whose mission is to inspire and guide entrepreneurs, speakers, leaders, and aspiring authors who have a message and a purpose to share, to find their courage, tell their brand story in writing, and make a positive impact on the world. She is currently working on her second memoir, Sand and Steel: the Spiritual Journey Home.

Listen in as Dorit shares…

What led her to leave the United States

What drove her to join the military force of another country

The biggest test of her courage while she was in the service

The reverse culture shock she experienced when she returned to the United States

The similarities between being a resident in a foreign country trying to fit in and being a creative entrepreneur

How she learned to handle rejection as a writer

Tips for deciding if writing a memoir is right for you and some ideas on how to get started with elements of your story

Listen all the way to the end when I’ll share your reflection exercise and action step for this episode

Guest Contact Information

Welcome to the Courageous Entrepreneur Show. This is the show that shares information and inspiration to help you break free from self-doubt, limiting beliefs, and disempowering patterns and break through to create the thriving, successful business you dream of and deserve.

The show features interviews with entrepreneurs who’ve overcome amazing challenges to create success on their terms and experts who share insight and practical information that can help you get past your blocks and move forward with courage, confidence, and clarity.

If you like what you hear I hope you’ll share the show with others in your networks and I hope you’ll decide to join my community. You can become a fan of the show on my site at Winnie Anderson.com/fans when you do you’ll get episodes delivered right to your inbox. You’ll also receive information, tips, and resources to help you come out of hiding, position and pre-sell yourself as the unique solution provider you are, and profit from your expertise.

Show Notes

What did you dream of doing as a teenager or child?

You might have had one idea or maybe lots of ideas.

When I was in third grade I wanted to be 3 different things that looking back now actually have some similarities.

I wanted to be an archeologist. Then I discovered Nancy Drew and wanted to write – I know you thought I’d say that I wanted to be a teenage detective.

It was actually a TV show my parents watched called The FBI that made me want to be a detective with the FBI.

Are you doing the work you’ve dreamed of doing?

Or is there some part of your heart that still wishes you had pursued your dream of being a graphic artist or becoming a doctor?

Well what if you decided to go for it?

Today’s guest is a rising star in the greater Philadelphia PA entertainment media scene and in this interview she talks about her path from mortgage banker and part time jewelry designer to becoming the face of entertainment in Atlantic City.

Whitney Ullman is an on-air personality and freelance entertainment reporter whose interviews and video footage have been featured on all major social media channels, as well as on local and national TV, radio, and web platforms. She’s a featured contributor to Fox 29’s Good Day Philadelphia. She is president and founder of WIN Promotions and Consulting. The services they provide include video production, talent staffing including promotional models, and public relations.

Listen in as Whitney shares:

How she got started in entertainment

Why she decided acting wasn’t for her

Why she gave up on pursuing her dream full time

How she leveraged a few opportunities into getting her foot in the door in entertainment

How she managed to keep moving forward when things weren’t going her way

The money scam she discovered and how she helped break it up

Her tips for making things happen in your business or career

As always listen in all the way to the end where I’ll share your cocktail exercise and action step for this episode.

As always listen in all the way to the end where I’ll share your reflection exercise and action step for this episode.

Additional Resources or Information on This Topic

A page of results in Amazon all related to breaking into different areas in the entertainment industry

Ready to Take Action?

If you’re ready to come out of hiding and attract clients by positioning and pre-selling yourself as the clear expert in your industry but…you know you need support to stay focused and to help you take action, then investigate becoming part of a group of like-minded solopreneurs working to do the same. Action Takers Groups enroll monthly. To find out when the next enrollment opens, Go here for more informatio

To listen to this episode click the forward arrow to the far left on the play bar. To download it to your device and listen later, click this link. Look to the far right of the play bar and click the down arrow. Navigate to where you’d like to store the media and save it to your device. You can also watch this episode on You Tube.

Show Notes

Welcome to the Courageous Entrepreneur Show. This is the show that shares information and inspiration to help you break free from self-doubt, limiting beliefs, and disempowering patterns and break through to create the thriving, successful business you dream of and deserve.

The show features interviews with entrepreneurs who’ve overcome amazing challenges to create success on their terms and experts who share insight and practical information that can help you get past your blocks and move forward with courage, confidence, and clarity.

The show is available in both video and audio format on a variety of platforms including Apple Podcasts – formerly iTunes – on iHeartRadio, in the Google Play store, and on my website at Winnie Anderson.com/selflove

If you like what you hear I hope you’ll share the show with others in your networks and I hope you’ll decide to join my community. You can become a fan of the show on my site at Winnie Anderson.com/fans when you do you’ll get episodes delivered right to your inbox. You’ll also receive information, tips, and resources to help you come out of hiding, position and pre-sell yourself as the unique solution provider you are, and profit from your expertise.

Because I’ve dealt with and continue to deal with body issues, self-esteem issues, and I know how a poor self-image can hold us back in marketing ourselves and our work, I knew when I met today’s guest that I had to have her on the show to talk about this.

She’s also a great example of something that many of my guests exemplify and that’s using their wound as a driving motivator to help others.

As a body image expert, coach, public speaker and acclaimed author, Laura Fenamore is on a mission to help women around the world finally end the constant battle with their bodies and start adoring who they see in the mirror. Her approach walks students and readers through the heartfelt journey to self-love at any size or age, unlocking the secrets of the path to lasting physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

After overcoming a lifelong struggle with addiction, obesity, and eating disorders, Laura released 100 pounds – and has kept it off for more than 29 years. She chronicles this journey to self-love and health in her widely acclaimed book, Skinny, Fat, Perfect: Love Who You See in the Mirror.

For the past 12 years, Laura has worked alongside hundreds of women through her Body Image Mastery programs and public speaking engagements. She has inspired thousands more to release excess pounds, reclaim their self-esteem, and live bold, beautiful lives through her global online community at SkinnyFatPerfect.com. She also conducts classes and consultations from her office in Marin County, CA.

Laura is a frequent contributor to print and digital media nationwide, including “First for Women”, “Ladies’ Home Journal”, and “Better Homes and Gardens”, as well as an active member of the online community Positively Positive,. She also serves on the board for Impact a Village, a nonprofit dedicated to improving education and healthcare in developing nations.

Listen in as Laura shares:
• Her own journey from self-loathing to self-love
• How a nightmare of a childhood led to emotional eating and put her in an obesity clinic when she was in 4th grade
• How she bounced from an eating disorder to other forms of self-medicating including drugs and even thought of suicide
• The impact of society on men and women developing an unhealthy body image and even self-hatred
• The greatest protector we have and use
• How we inadvertently use food treats to reward and celebrate which can develop into an unhealthy relationship with food

As always watch all the way to the end where I’ll share your reflection exercise and action step for this episode.

Additional Information on This Topic

Ready to Take Action?

If you’re ready to come out of hiding, get out of your own way and know you need more support to stay focused and to help you take action, then investigate becoming part of a like-minded solopreneurs working to do the same. Action Takers Groups enroll monthly. To find out when the next enrollment opens, Go here for more information.

To listen to this episode click the forward arrow to the far left on the play bar. To download it to your device and listen later, click this link. Look to the far right of the play bar and click the down arrow. Navigate to where you’d like to store the media and save it to your device. You can also watch this episode on You Tube.

Welcome to the Courageous Entrepreneur Show. This is the show that shares information and inspiration to help you break free from self-doubt, limiting beliefs, and disempowering patterns and break through to create the thriving, successful business you dream of and deserve.

I interview entrepreneurs who’ve overcome amazing challenges to create success on their terms and experts who share insight and practical information that can help you get past your blocks and move forward with courage, confidence, and clarity.

If you like what you hear I hope you’ll share the show with others in your networks and I hope you’ll decide to join my community. You can become a fan of the show and when you do you’ll get episodes delivered right to your inbox. You’ll also receive information, tips, and resources to help you come out of hiding, position and pre-sell yourself as the unique solution provider you are, and profit from your expertise.

Show Notes

If you’re like me – and like most professional solution providers….coaches….consultants….healers…and others who want to use their skills and talents to serve others – I’ll bet when you started your business you agonized over what you would call your business….what your logo should be and what your website should look like. But what I’m willing to bet that you didn’t spend much time thinking about was your marketing and sales models. I know I didn’t.

So then we realize our existing reputation in our industry or in our city is just not enough to have the best qualified potential clients contact us and say I’ve got a problem I know you fix and I’ve got a boatload of money so let’s get started.

But that’s what we want, right?

You secretly wish that people would just shoot you an email and ask for your paypal or stripe link so they can send you money.
We’ve got to work to attract the right clients for us.

We’ve got to have a process that helps them say yes to working with us.

I once gave a presentation where I shared information about why we struggle with sales and the truth is we only discover we hate it when we put ourselves in the situation of selling our services.

A woman came up to me after one of these presentations. She shook my hand and after she thanked me for the information and insight and said I realize now that I’ve become the one thing I ate most in the world.

She was talking about selling. She didn’t want to be believe she was a salesperson.

But you have a passion for what you do and you’re driven to help others dealing with the same problem. Plus….let’s face it…we all need money to live. To take care of ourselves…to care for our families….and we need money to run our businesses.

So we’ve got to get clients and we can’t rely on other people recommending us. Nor can we rely on them discovering us and clicking the order button on our websites.

How do you sell when you hate selling?

That’s what this episode of The Courageous Entrepreneur is all about.

You’re about to listen to my interview with leadership and sales expert, Dr. Nadia Brown. She shows women how to own their power, profitability, and purpose to lead. Nadia through her firm Doyenne Leadership teaches and coaches female entrepreneurs to greatness including exponential profitability.

Listen in as Nadia shares…

How to eliminate the ick factor when selling your services

How to change your mindset about sales and the giant aha she had that led to her own breakthrough

Why it’s important to have intensive or comprehensive packages

Why sales is like a one-pitch softball game

The dirty little secret of business and marketing

Why it’s important to tell your story…your own hero’s journey

As always, listen all the way to the end where I’ll share your cocktail exercise and action step for this episode.

Ready to Take Action?

If you’re ready to come out of hiding, get out of your own way and know you need more support to stay focused and to help you take action, then investigate becoming part of a like-minded solopreneurs working to do the same. Action Takers Groups enroll monthly. Go here for more information.

To listen to this episode, click on the forward arrow to the left of the grey play bar. To download and save the episode to listen to on your device, click this link, then click the down arrow to the far right of the grey play bar. Choose Save As and navigate to where you want to save the recording on your device.

Welcome to the Courageous Entrepreneur Show. This is the show that shares information and inspiration to help you break free from self-doubt, limiting beliefs, and disempowering patterns and break through to create the thriving, successful business you dream of and deserve.

I interview entrepreneurs who’ve overcome amazing challenges to create success on their terms and experts who share insight and practical information that can help you get past your blocks and move forward with courage, confidence, and clarity.

The show is available in both video and audio format on a variety of platforms including Apple Podcasts – formerly iTunes – on You Tube, and here on my website.

If you like what you hear I hope you’ll share the show with others in your networks and I hope you’ll decide to join my community. You can become a fan of the show on my site at Winnie Anderson.com/fans when you do you’ll get episodes delivered right to your inbox. You’ll also receive information, tips, and resources to help you come out of hiding, position and pre-sell yourself as the unique solution provider you are, and profit from your expertise.

Show Notes

Corporate or organizational life is a bit crazy to say the least isn’t it?

Even though companies spend millions on health benefits they often can become toxic environments where stress runs high and people are often rewarded for bad behavior like being obnoxious, and even abusive.

If their numbers are good, they get promoted and rewarded with bonuses and nice offices.

I’ve always told people who lose their jobs or who voluntarily leave a position that they need to go through a detox period. They laugh and ignore me. And as much as I know that to be true I ignored myself.

Think about the places you worked for a minute. Was working impossibly long hours a badge of honor?

I worked for a company that wanted me to take a new job and travel 100% of the time. They were shocked that I turned the job down.

But the life of an entrepreneur is incredibly stressful too, isn’t it?

So much to learn, so much to do, and then there’s getting clients, getting paid on time, and managing your money.

We started our businesses because we wanted freedom, balance, and of course the chance to earn an unlimited income.

That’s the dream we bought. But most of us would have to confess we have a very hard job with the most demanding boss in the world.

We work crazy long hours and neglect our physical and even our emotional and mental health.

That my friends is a recipe for disaster.

We tell ourselves those are the sacrifices we make. We work harder than others do so we can live like others don’t.

The impact of stress has been well documented. It leads to a host of health problems that can negatively impact our quality of life and can even lead to an early death.

I don’t know about you but I neglect myself a lot and I know there’s a level of stress that’s exciting but there’s that level of stress that’s unhealthy and even toxic.

Then there’s this issue of faking it til you make it, right? We feel as though we need to pretend that everything is fine because we believe in the power of our minds and thoughts. But the brain is smart enough to figure out you’re saying one thing and doing another.

So when I met today’s guest, I knew I had to have her on the show to talk about the issue of entrepreneurial self-care.

Brodie Welch is a licensed acupuncturist, board-certified herbalist, Chinese Medicine expert and self-care strategist. She’s the founder of Life in Balance Acupuncture in Corvallis, Oregon where she has been treating patients since 2003.

In addition to her clinical practice, Brodie shares her expertise to help caring, conscious women take care of themselves through innovative learn-from-anywhere courses and coaching programs on stress management, digestive health, the body-mind connection, moving meditation, and Chinese medicine. She’s the creator and host of the podcast, A Healthy Curiosity. The show explores what it takes to be well in a busy world.

Listen in as Brodie explains:

Why self-care is a courageous act for every entrepreneur

What she calls the empty calories or snacks of self-care that really aren’t fulfilling us nor are they nurturing us

What exactly are yin and yang and how both concepts are critical especially in self-care

How our ego trips us up and actually prevents us from practicing good self care

How your good self-care actually benefits others

As always listen in all the way to the end where I’ll share your cocktail exercise and action step for this episode.

Research You Might Be Interested In

Looking for Support on Your Entrepreneurial Journey?

Join an Action Takers Group and become part of a small but growing community of solo professionals committed to achieving their goals and creating the success they dream of and deserve. Enrollment opens up monthly so check it out here and join the wait list for notification of when enrollment opens again.

To listen to this episode, click the forward pointing arrow on the far left of the play bar. You can download and save the episode to your device to play at your leisure. Just click this link, then click the down arrow on the far right of the play bar. Choose <Save As>, navigate to the location where you want to save the recording and click <Enter> or <Save>.

Welcome to the Courageous Entrepreneur Show. This is the show that shares information and inspiration to help you break free from self-doubt, limiting beliefs, and disempowering patterns and break through to create the thriving, successful business you dream of and deserve.

I interview entrepreneurs who’ve overcome amazing challenges to create success on their terms and experts who share insight and practical information that can help you get past your blocks and move forward with courage, confidence, and clarity.

The show is available in both video and audio format on a variety of platforms including Apple Podcasts – formerly iTunes – on You Tube, and on my website Winnie Anderson dot com.

When I was a kid, my dad would talk about going on vacation to Homestead park. Which meant we were staying home.
Every summer we would take one day trip to the South Jersey shore and spend the day at our cousin’s house in Ocean City. That was about 3 hours round trip in the car.

We’d also take one day trip to another Shore spot – closer to the mouth of the Delaware Bay and we’d spend the day with my dad’s side of the family at our Aunt And Uncle’s house. Probably another 3 hour round trip.

So it’s a massive understatement to say it was hard to imagine spending months in an RV with one of my parents.

And when I think of the hours I spent in tears over a summer vacation trying to memorize the multiplication tables the thoughts of being home schooled give me nightmares.

But Gretchen Breuner did just that.

She took her kids out of school, packed them into a used RV, and set out on to give them an adventure they’d never forget and help them make the connection that learning was fun.

Even more surprising than the fact that she did it by herself and returned to tell the tale is that she discovered a whole new career and business. Her journey didn’t end when she and the kids pulled into the driveway. In many ways it was just beginning.

So listen in as Gretchen shares:

How she went from stay-at-home mom to advernturess instructor of her 3 kids

How listening to the voice inside her led her to build a thriving business after the trip

How continuing to tune into the voice and follow its guidance led to a new path for her and new direction for her skills

Tips to take your own adventure and turn it into a book or speaking opportunities

Lots of insight into how navigate your own personal and business growth journey

As always, listen all the way to the end and I’ll share your cocktail exercise and action step for this episode.

Terms That Might Be New to You

Talent — The term Gretchen uses to refer to any expert who speaksTeam — The term Gretchen uses to describe the admin help a speaker / expert may have or they may need but don’t have

In part one of this article, I talked about what self-sabotage is, shared some symptoms, and talked about what it takes to break free from it.

I shared the list of 10 elements to break free from self-sabotage and to begin to set yourself up for the break through you want and deserve.

In this article (which is actually an excerpt from the book I’m writing on being courageous in business), I share details about embracing and implementing the 10 elements.

Become Self-Aware. All change starts here.

Each of us has blind spots – aspects of ourselves and our personality that we don’t see, yet others do.

If you’re frustrated that you haven’t been able to achieve your professional or your personal goals, you have to ask yourself why that is.

The ego often stands in the way and keep us from seeing what others see, especially if we’ve been conditioned not to see it or if the ego senses facing it will be painful. And it can be. At about 24, I had it pointed out to me that I was incredibly negative and never had a nice word to say.

Naturally I thought the person who told me that was full of it and I said that. I found myself realizing she was right and that started me on the path to knowing myself, facing what I didn’t like, and making the changes I knew I needed to make. But it’s a never-ending journey.

Accept Responsibility. Once you become Aware, your next step is to Accept Responsibility for 4 things:

Everything you say

Everything you do

Every action you take

Every result you get

Give up blaming others, the economy, technology, or anything else that you think is standing in the way of achieving your goals and creating the abundant, joyful life you keep saying you want.

No one made you angry. The button was there to get pushed.

No one forced you to spend money you don’t have on a program that’s not right for you. You decided to do it. This can be very painful to do because the ego is trying desperately to protect you. It wants anyone and anything else to be responsible for your emotional pain, your financial problems, your business frustrations, and whatever else has you upset. Believe me, I know really awful stuff can happen in our lives and in the world in general. But as I discovered in my recovery from the lingering effects of abuse and the brain injury I sustained, each of us is in control of how we choose to think and act when things happen. I always say “you have to play the hand you’re dealt.” Will you play to win?

Get Clarity. It seems so simple, doesn’t it? To just declare what you want? I’ll bet we want lots of the same things – more clients, more money, we want to charge more, we want to write more books…create more programs and help more people. But that’s not clear at all.

We must be crystal clear about WHAT we want. It should be 3-D in our minds.

I tell clients that if what you want was a suspect then your description should be so clear that a cop would arrest them.

Often what keeps us from getting clear is we get caught up in trying to figure out the how.

We don’t have to agonize about the HOW. God….the Universe….Universal Intelligence….Source….whatever term you use to describe it (for me, it’s God), will take care of the HOW.

That doesn’t mean you don’t have to take action because a big bag of money is going to show up on your doorstep every morning. What it does mean is God / the Universe has you covered. Our job is to pay attention to the signals we’re sent and say “yes” to the opportunities we’re presented.

There are two big reasons we struggle to be clear about what we want.

The first one is we truly don’t know what we want. We’ve spent so much of our lives as employees fulfilling the company’s goals and mission that we don’t know what WE want. But the bigger issue is we don’t believe we deserve what we want.

That single issue will hold you back more than you know. It’s the heart of self-sabotaging behavior and it’s a false belief. It’s not even OUR belief. It’s something we absorbed from what others – typically in power over us – told us and / or showed us.

I’m here to tell you that you’re a part of the Divine. You are worthy of everything you dream of and hope for.

Get comfortable with discomfort. Every guru, coach, consultant, and probably therapist will tell you that you need to come out of your comfort zone when you’re an entrepreneur.

That’s something we nod our heads about – who doesn’t know you need to be an “out of the box” thinker? We’re all sick and tired of hearing that worn-out phrase, especially when no one really explains it. That famous philosopher, Anonymous, once said that “self-employment is the most intense personal development program you’ll ever be involved with.” I’d add “and the most expensive” to that.

It’s true. You come face to face with crap you didn’t even realize you had or is so old you thought you’d dealt with it ages ago.

Mark Baker a speaker, coach, and trainer in the UK explained on an [episode of my podcast](http://winnieanderson.com/abused)that our disempowering beliefs resurface every time we hit the next level or get ready to make a leap to that next level.

It doesn’t matter that we dealt with our unworthiness way back when. That fear comes back as you try to up-level your game and your business. And when it does we can easily get trapped all over again.

I think this is one of the biggest aha moments I’ve ever had myself. So we’ve got to accept that these thoughts are likely to reappear until we reach a supreme level of enlightenment.

We’re going to face challenges every step of the way as we build our business. It’s up to us to embrace it and move over, under, through, or around it.

Resolve Internal Conflicts. If you’ve heard me talk about how to sell when you hate selling or how to achieve your goals, you’ve likely heard me talk about this before.

I think it’s one of the big issues that we just don’t recognize: That our Needs are in Conflict with our wants.

Each of us has needs – all humans share about 15+ needs.

Some we’re born with – food, clothing, shelter, love – and some we develop over time, like my incredible need for independence.

Let’s say you want more clients (pretty vague I know but we’ll go with it for now). Getting clients may involve having marketing or sales conversations with people and that means putting yourself at risk of rejection.

GAH!

If you have a Need for love and acceptance and if that Need is stronger than the Need(s) that would be fulfilled by landing a new client, you’re likely not going to make the sale and you could in all likelihood sabotage the meeting and not have the sale go through. Or you may never put yourself in the situation where you can have sales conversations with people because your ego is terrified of the hurt and rejection you feel when you hear “no”.

When you find yourself resisting something it’s likely because you have a Need that’s in direct conflict with the Want that you think you want. You’ve got to cross the “bridge of fear” to go from where you are to access the Want on the other side.

Detach from the Outcome. When we get upset – we’re depressed because a prospect said no or a current client isn’t going to renew…..we burst into tears because our website is infected with malware (ok that was me)…or some troll posts a negative review of a book….the reason we have an emotional reaction is because some emotional sore spot has been hit.

I grew up with a mother who called me stupid from the time I was a toddler. Even now, if I make a mistake it still stings because it raises that specter that I really am stupid.

The key here is to feel the emotion and name it. Then ask yourself “Where did this feeling come from?” Then you can acknowledge the emotion is an old one from an old wound.

I once worked with a client who sold memberships in an association. She told me that she felt that every “no” she got from a prospect was a direct rejection of her and it would depress her for days.

That’s an example of being emotionally invested in the outcome.

Those people weren’t rejecting her; they rejected membership in the association.

It was a business decision to them.

The greatest emotional freedom came for me when I realized this fact: That people make their decisions based on the information given to them and the emotional desire to have the transformation offered.

If people said no to working with me, they said no to workingwith me. That in no way meant I was less than a person. It wasn’t a reflection on me personally and it didn’t mean my husband or God would no longer love me.

See, that’s the problem. We’re truly looking for love in all the wrong places.

What we call “mistakes” or even “rejection” we must start to see as data and data only.

Because then we can begin to figure out how to get a result that’s closer to what we want.

If people aren’t opening your email, it doesn’t mean they hate you or that you can’t write. It could mean that your subject line didn’t grab them (well writing headlines is a skill you can learn), or your email might have landed in their spam folders (you can learn what triggers email to get in spam folders).

Allowing things to emotionally upset you gives your power away.

You’re still lovable. You’re still a good person. No matter what happens with your business.

Embrace Your Uniqueness. Teenagers are famous for this internal conflict of wanting to stand out yet wanting to fit in. As we age, we struggle with the same issue. And as corporate employees we know that there was a limit to how unique we could be.

While we wanted to stand out and be recognized so we’d get promoted (or just to keep our job!), we didn’t want to stand out too much or be seen as someone who was an egotistical jerk.

After a decade or more in corporate life we may become sogood at what we do that we don’t even see our skills as unique. There are lots of ways to position yourself – which involves claiming and embracing what makes you different. The point is to be unique in a way that matters to your audience and to amplify that.

And trust me…you ARE unique.

Be the Leader. Merriam-Webster.com defines “leader” as “a person who has commanding authority or influence”

With all the marketing noise out there, how is someone who hates selling (and who isn’t crazy about marketing either) going to stand out?

You’ve got to position yourself as the clear authority– someone who “has commanding authority or influence” to the audience you’re trying to reach and constituents you’re meant to serve.

This may create some serious discomfort as your Want – to serve and positively impact people with your work and message while earning a handsome income – comes into direct conflict with your Need for approval, for love, for acceptance.

Remember, you’ve got to cross over the bridge of fear to get to the other side. Doing things that help you stand out as a leader – writing a book, speaking, hosting a podcast, creating content in a variety of modalities that educates your audience and elevates you as the clear leader in their eyes.

The key to standing out, and the easiest way to do it, is to be the true, authentic you who stays on message and lets your audience know you have the solution to the problem they have as you inspire and invite them to take the next step in the journey.

That can be easier said than done when we’ve got secret fears and doubts.

Take Action. I once had a contract with a large government agency that shall remain nameless. They made me insane. I couldn’t get them to make a decision about anything. We would have executive committee meetings every week and every meeting we’d talk about the same things we talked about the week before.

But at some point I had to admit that I did the same things with my own business.

Then I’d be frustrated because I didn’t have enough clients, or hadn’t finished that next book, or hadn’t launched the course. I had to admit I was afraid people would hate my message. I didn’t believe I was unique enough or that I could make a difference.

I was terrified of rejection; but since I wasn’t taking action I wasn’t giving anyone anything to reject or accept!

I discovered, that for me, the key is to take small actions on a regular basis to maintain that forward movement momentum and to build confidence with small successes.

Darren Hardy, publisher of Success Magazine and author of The Compound Effect calls ours a “microwave **society” because we want and expect quick results when it really takes much longer to produce what we want. And often that’s because we weren’t clear to begin with or we’ve got our Needs and Wants twisted up.

Have Faith. Like most words in the glorious English language, faith has several definitions. My favorite definitions from Merriam-Webster.com are “firm belief in something for which there is no proof” and “complete trust”.

One of the things I had to admit was, that although I SAID I was a person of faith, I really didn’t have “complete trust” in God (or the Universe, Spirit, Source, etc) or in myself for that matter. I had to acknowledge that I had deeply rooted issues of self-loathing (no mere “low self-esteem” for me).

That self-loathing combined with the conflicts between my Needs and Wants was keeping me paralyzed, unable to move forward with courage, clarity, and consistency.

To truly move forward and make the big impact we believe we’re meant to make, we have to rein in our ego and belief that we know best – that sheer determination and hard work will achieve our goal — and strengthen our ability to tune into the messages we’re being sent by the Divine and become willing to act when sent the answer.

This is one of the challenges faced when setting goals and creating plans. Our corporate brain tells us to plan the last detail; but, to quote the late Wayne Dyer, “your job isn’t to ask ‘How”; it’s to say ‘YES!’

Self-sabotage is a deep issue that can become pervasive, especially when driven by the conflict between your Needs and Wants.

The root of the issue is love. We must love ourselves first. We must believe that no matter what happens to our business, we’re loved. Business success does not define us, nor lead to us deserving to be loved.

We ARE loved and at our core we ARE love.

We already have the elements we need to let the success that’s inside of us, grow to full flower.

If you’re ready to have the break through you deserve and break free from self-doubt and self-sabotage to achieve the goals you have, then head over to learn more about the Action Takers Group and check out the next enrollment opportunity.